Secondary School News

As the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate Examinations get underway today, it’s reported that the State Examinations Commission (SEC) have taken extra precautions to try and avoid the embarrassing mistakes that were found on papers in previous years.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., has welcomed the publication of a new report on Transition Year (TY) compiled by the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU). The ISSU undertook this quantitative and qualitative study “Transition year: exploring the student experience” at the request of the Minister.

The study shows 89% of those surveyed took part in Transition Year in their school and the same percentage were happy that they did so. The overall consensus of students and TY co-ordinators is that the year should ... click to read full post & comments

In an interesting experiment in the UK, sixth years students in the Hampton Court House School are to have the school hours changed to cater for teenage sleeping patterns. From September next, they will start their day at 1.30pm and finish at 7pm.

The Principal has said that the idea is based on research which indicates that teenagers have a biological predisposition to go to bed later and get up later. By changing their attendance hours, the Principal believes that they can get the students in to an ... click to read full post & comments(1)

Second-level teachers have overwhelmingly voted to take industrial action over plans by the Minister for Education and Skills to abolish the Junior Certificate State Exam. In separate ballots, members of the ASTI and members of the TUI voted by 88% to 12% in favour of industrial action. The two unions represent approximately 27,000 second-level teachers.

The Department of Education and Skills has announced the patrons for nine new secondary schools that will be opening across the country in 2015 and 2016.

Providing additional places for up to 7,300 students in areas of Cork, Cavan, Dublin and North Wicklow that have seen populations growth in recent years, the new establishments include a mix of multi-denominational and Catholic schools.

Touchscreens are likely to form part of the assessment process for Junior Certificate English pupils going forward.

As part of proposals for the new-style Junior Cert, English will be assessed in three ways from the end of second year - one of which is a multimedia presentation that the students will put together themselves, the Irish Examiner reports.

Major changes to the Junior Certificate syllabus would put less pressure on a single terminal exam and enable pupils to show what they can do away from the exam hall.

This is the suggestion being put forward by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), which has revealed details of four short courses from a proposed eight such courses. These are aimed at moving away from rote learning and from the idea that students are only taught what they need to know to pass their tests, the Irish Independent reports.

Ireland's top three Leaving Certificate maths students have been handed a prestigious award in recognition of their achievements.

Brendan O'Brien, who studied at Douglas Community School in Cork, former Christian Brothers College pupil Conor Moloney and graduate of St Brendan's College in Killarney Darragh Rice have all received the Accenture Analytics Mathematics Excellence Award, the Irish Examiner reports.

Students at second-level schools in Ireland break up earlier for the summer holidays than many of their peers in other nations*.

The Irish Independent reports that while school pupils in the country finish the academic year at the end of May, those in England do not end the term until late July and students in the German state of Bavaria have to wait until the beginning of August.

A study by the universities of Strathclyde and Dundee suggests that intensive exercise improves the academic performance of teenagers. The study, of around 5,000 children, found links between exercise and exam success in English, maths and science and found an increase in performance for every extra 17 minutes boys exercised, and 12 minutes for girls. The effect was noticeably large for girls in science classes.

The education minister has expressed a willingness to open talks with secondary school teachers regarding the ongoing industrial action, but disruption to classes is likely to continue.

Discussing the issue this weekend (October 19th), Ruairi Quinn stated he is happy to speak with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) regarding education matters but is unable to discuss the terms and conditions of the Haddington Road Agreement, which regards teachers' pay and was rejected by the ASTI earlier this year.

As we come into Parent/Teacher meeting season, the impact of the ASTI industrial action is likely to mean that many secondary school students will be sent home early. Due to a ban on meetings outside school hours by the ASTI, Parent/Teacher meetings, which would normally have been scheduled for after school, have now to be scheduled inside the normal school day. In general, the meetings will have to start at ... click to read full post & comments

Candidates who appealed their leaving certificate results will be able to review the result of their appeal online via examinations.ie from midday today. The results are available in the schools this morning and have also been transmitted electronically to the Central Applications Office.

Many young people in Ireland are being affected by cyberbullying at present, new findings have shown.

To be presented at the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology conference tomorrow (October 3rd) by Dr Stephen Minton, a lecturer in the psychology of education at Trinity College, the figures revealed one in seven teenagers in Ireland have been the victim of cyberbullying in the past three months.

The ASTI has instructed its members to take action - including not attending meetings usually held outside of school hours - in response to the Government's breaching of the Croke Park Agreement, the Irish Independent reports.

Boys in Ireland are outperforming their female counterparts when it comes to securing medical school places, new research has shown.

Published in the Irish Medical Journal and conducted by scientists at University College Cork (UCC), the study found that male medical school applicants scored higher than girls in both the Leaving Certificate and Health Professionals Admissions Test (HPAT) examinations.

Pupils at schools in Ireland will enjoy a wider range of learning experiences following the replacement of the Junior Certificate.

This is the suggestion of Anne Looney, Chief Executive of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, who noted that schools assessing their own students will bring many benefits for all concerned, the Irish Examiner reports.

Schools in Ireland have been given a deadline for applications regarding resource hours and special needs assistants.

The National Council for Special Education announced that schools have until Friday September 20th to get their applications in - and the news comes after resource teaching hours for the academic year were allocated in June, the Irish Examiner reports.

A lack of choice is resulting in parents in Ireland overpaying for their children's ebook education, it has been suggested.

Don Myers, President of the National Parents Council Post Primary, explained schools are insisting that pupils use over-priced iPads, even though there are cheaper tablet devices available that deliver the same ebooks, the Irish Independent reports.

League tables for schools in Ireland are published by the Sunday Times and the Irish Times and are designed to offer information that will help parents and young people make choices about schooling.

These rundowns can be particularly useful, as they tell parents about progression rates to college from individual schools - information that mums and dads can use when considering which school they would like their child to attend.

Universities in Ireland have agreed to reduce the number of courses on the Central Applications Office (CAO) list that pupils can apply to.

The decision of the academic councils of all seven universities indicates plans to reform the Leaving Certificate - which are aimed at decreasing the pressures of the points system - now have one less obstacle to pass, the Irish Independent reports.

The government's lack of money to build the required number of laboratories is the reason why science is not compulsory in Irish secondary schools.

This is according to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, who was speaking at Tullamore College in County Offaly, where he had been learning about the college's new internet link with other classes in Ireland, Germany and the US, the Irish Independent reports.

Pupils at urban disadvantaged schools in Ireland have lower reading and maths scores than their counterparts in schools with low concentrations of disadvantage.

This is according to a new Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) study, which also found children in these schools are more likely to be affected by higher absenteeism, literacy difficulties and less-experienced teachers.

Thousands of school children are failing to reach their fifth year of second-level study, new research has shown.

Published by the Department of Education, the report revealed 4,300 students quit school in years one to four annually, with this number rising to 7,713 for the full duration of second-level school, the Irish Examiner reports.

Staff cutbacks are having a negative impact on students, it has been claimed.

Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), noted a lack of protection for frontline services in schools is resulting in pupils missing out from both a personal and educational perspective, the Irish Examiner reports.

A joint forum of teacher unions, parent groups and educationalists has made a series of recommendations regarding the future of post-primary schooling.

Collectively know as the Post-Primary Education Forum, the seven organisations have put forward 13 suggestions they believe to be vital to improving second-level teaching and learning over the next 15 years.

Irish schoolchildren are among pupils from around the world to have taken part in a special Nasa broadcast.

A total of 37 students from Cork schools St Michael's National School Blackrock, Gaelscoli Mahon and Beaumont Girls National School headed to CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, where they linked up to five other schools around the world, the Irish Examiner reports.

Concerns regarding school policy have been raised by the Church of Ireland.

During a meeting with the government, a delegation from the church, led by Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson, said it is worried about the threat of cutbacks to schools in Ireland, the Irish Times reports.

A community school in Ireland could be set for a major extension as it looks to accommodate a growing number of students.

Enrolments at Kinsale Community School are expected to climb from its current number of 770 to closer to 1,000 over the coming years - and principal Sean O Broin believes the increase in demand for places is down to the successes its pupils have enjoyed in recent times, the Irish Examiner reports.

A teenage girl with mental health difficulties is not entitled to a mandatory injunction that would direct the state to provide her with a suitable school placement.

This is according to the High Court's Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley, who came to the decision despite claiming the girl's social education was gravely deficient on account of her not attending a school for more than a year.